


We'll Never Be Those Kids Again

by fifthnorthumberland



Series: These Boys - Check Please drabbles [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Anxiety Disorder, Closeted Character, Drugs mention, M/M, Pre-Draft, overdose mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 08:05:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8883181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fifthnorthumberland/pseuds/fifthnorthumberland
Summary: Jack and Kent were kids. They were just kids in love, or something like that. They'll never be those kids again now that they broke each other's hearts.





	

**Author's Note:**

> "In the halls of your hotel  
> Arm around my shoulder so I could tell  
> How much I meant to... meant it sincere back then  
> We had time to kill back then  
> You ain't a kid no more  
> We'll never be those kids again"
> 
> \- Ivy, by Frank Ocean

It’s summer and they’re both 18 and in Montreal and they go out to a bar together just to have a drink with some other friends and they always show up together at group stuff because they’re Kent and Jack, but that night feels different. They spent the day together, spent most of the week together, and Kent slept in Jack’s bed last night after they kissed and looked at each other with huge smiles on their faces. So when they get to the bar and sit down next to their friends at a table, it feels like _Kent and Jack_ in a new, precious, secret and lovely way, like when Kent’s little finger finds Jack’s under the table and they stay there, secretly, intertwined on the bench between them.

-

Kent doesn’t know much about what Jack’s going through, how the pressure gets to him and how the ambition they share is different for Jack, a sacred purpose he was born to fulfill, instead of a goal to work towards as much as he can like Kent does. He doesn’t get it, Jack doesn’t talk about it much, but he’s there when Jack panics in the locker room before practice and he sits next to Jack while he catches his breath and explains to the coach that Jack’s not well and they’ll skip so he can take care of him and they drive back to Jack’s. Kent asks if Jack wants him to stay and Jack simply nods, exhausted. Kent pets his hair until he nods off for a few minutes. He just wants Jack to be okay.

-

They’re kids and they try stuff out, they smoke weed and make out. Jack’s hands on Kent’s naked back feel like fire, brand him in a way he’ll never forget. They fight and argue and it’s stupid, it’s ridiculous and most of the time it ends in a silent agreement that they won’t do it again and they’re good. It ends with a hand held in silence or a kiss on the temple. They laugh until they cry, their bellies aching, stumbling into each other, crashing into each other always, always. They look at each other from across the room and their gaze is like saying “there you are”. They connect in a way neither has lived before.  

-

When Jack gets a diagnose, they don’t talk much about it, but Jack texted him after the session with his therapist saying it was a Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Kent googles GAD and reads a few medical articles about it before he texts back “Good to know. Are they giving you any pills for it?”. Jack still feels alone in this, no matter how many times Kent makes a point of talking about their future, about being a team, sometimes even partners. Kent doesn’t know how to help, Jack doesn’t know what would help.


End file.
